Do people say eeewww! when you say you have rats?

[js6stone]

What kills me is that every time I walk into a pet store there is some poor mother there buying her kid a hamster. I tell them, "Hamsters bite... Buy a rat!"

"Poor mother there buying her kid a hamster".... there's nothing wrong with hamsters. I've had about 20 since I was a kid and only got bitten by one once. It all depends on how people treat their animals and the time they put in to gain their trust. Also if you're saying to them "buy A rat" and they go ahead, then there's going to be a poor rat living alone. These "poor mothers" would really be best off getting a hamster going on that information given. Some parents may get a pet for the child to take responsibility of. The rats may not get the attention they require, especially if the child get bored of them which seems to be a common occurrence.

You make a valid point. I'm not a hamster hater. But I will always chose a rat over a hamster. I've owned 3 and every one has bit me. I know they can't be all bad. So forgive me for my statement.

[taralyncouture]

I actually had a hamster i swore was a rat stuck in a hamsters body, she cuddled and sat on my shoulder.

[em_rbass]

Wow.. this thread is a bit upsetting. It seems as though many of us get a negative reaction from family and friends for owning rats as pets.

My mom has something to say about it every single time I let one of my boys out of their cage. My newest rat Hercules (thinking about changing his name to Bear. Either way, he's a big guy) creeps her out the most, given his size. She tells me I'm disgusting for letting my younger boys crawl around in my sweater, and she leaves the room if I have any of my ratties on/near me.

One time, a good friend of mine came over to visit. She had known before hand that I had recently acquired a couple of rats as pets, but she isn't much of an animal person herself. She hadn't looked at them, nor did she ask to. I had one of my boys on my shoulder for a little bit of out time. My friend shook her head and chuckled in astonishment/disgust. She said,

"You're letting a RAT crawl all over you."

This same friend also found it necessary to tell me that I would grow up old, single and senile with a house full of weird animals as pets.. Actually, come to think of it, she isn't THAT good of a friend. 

For the longest, I had owned (or rather, BEEN owned) primarily by dogs and reptiles. Although I still am extremely fond of scaly things, I found my reptiles to be very expensive and demanding to say the least. When I told my boyfriend that I wanted to try my hand at rats, he responded with "....WHY rats??"

Ironically, it was my boyfriend who introduced me to my first rat, who was somewhat of a birthday gift. He was also eager to get to know my other three boys, and he's in love with Hercules. He can't get over how mellow and friendly  the huge rat is.

If only people understood the temperament, personality and cleanliness of the domesticated rat..

[kawaiikitsune]

Yes lol. People are so uneducated!

It's so annoying when I hear people in the pet stores wanting to buy hamsters or bunnies instead of rats. I just shake my head cus I know hamsters bite and generally don't like people and bunnies will scratch you because they hate being help. Sure their cute, but they just don't beat the intelligent, sweetness that is a rat.

My mom used to hate them, but now that she's slowly gotten used to them she even touches their tails now XD

My bf actually lets my rats sit on his shoulder lol, and all my sisters love my rats. I think my dad is the only one who really doesn't like them. Him and my grandmas who either want them to die or wonder how I can get friends if I have rats >.< So mean!

If only people knew they are the best pets to have besides dogs, and possibly cats 

[RatFunk]

Most of my friends are curious about the rats and want to meet them. Others think I'm nuts for having rats but they usually get over it after they meet mine. I don't fault these people;however, as it can often be hard to see past a preconceived notion especially one held by the majority.

 

[ZoeHale]

I've gotten some weird looks, but normally whenever I bring out Lady then people are cured of their rattaphobia.
When my gramma met the rats, I was seriously suprised. I expected her to be all "Eww, rats!" instead when I got Lady and Bug out, gramma goes "Oh my god, they're so cuute! And friendly! Can I hold them?"

[Little_Vixen]

I've had mixed messages about having rats from my friends. My friend Mindy for example, wouldn't have the slightest problem because she'd had a sweet rat named Kiesha before I even knew that rats could make good pets. She got sick about a year and a half ago and died at about 3 and a half years. Was a very sweet rat. But when I mentioned my pets to my bfs family they got really weirded out looks even as I explained they are very clean animals and intelligent and very sweet..

Oh, now I remembered why I was posting..
On Animal Cops yesterday, yes I watch that show religiously when I'm able to, there was a part where the officers had rescued 28 dogs, a snake, and 2 rats. Well they named the rats Lucy and Lombart and the officer actually showed them after they'd had them at the shelter and was picking them up and explaining exactly what I'd said, that they were very cleanly animals, intelligent, sweet, and often easier to take care of than cats or dogs, which can sometimes be true. It made me very happy to hear that because maybe some parents or people watching that got a bit enlightened on the sweet animals. 
And they weren't feeder rats either, even though the person also had a snake. They were just a pet hoarder.

[army_wifey1988]

I've had a lot of friends give me this look like "wtf a rat?!" But once they meet them their in love. I have two friends that have gotten ratties because of meeting mine. As for my parents, my moms okay with them and will admit their cute but my dad doesnt want them anywhere near him....lol 

[VictorianVanity]

My mother is revolted by the idea of me owning rats. Unfortunately she lives halfway across the country so I don't foresee the opportunity to introduce her to them any time soon. But, perhaps when we visit, if the girls can be comfortable travelling, we'll take them and enlighten her!

All of our friends are perfectly comfortable with the idea; some have even had rats as pets before. Unfortunately no one has had the chance to meet them just yet.

[kandyluvr]

I used to not tell people becuase i thought they would think i was weird but now i tell them and dont care what they think! For some reason everyone is attracted to Kandy! I think its becuase she was the runt and was handledmost of her litter and is a little more friendly but i dont know!

[Leesha]

My mother was a bit freaked out by the rats at first, but now she's in love with Nibbler. My sister is still revolted, but my brother has come around to them.

[Capistrono]

It took me 2 years of convincing before my mom let me get rats, but now that I have them, she's in love too. She even cried when my female rat died.

Unfortunately, not everyone can be changed so easily. When my girl, Steve, was sick with pneumonia my mom posted a small thing on her Facebook asking family members to keep her in their thoughts. Almost everyone replied with disgust. I still haven't forgiven them.

[clarry]

Im lucky, my mum and dad love my rats, it took me a while to convince my mum to let me have them-but that wasnt because she was scared of them or didnt like them, she just wanted to make sure i had done my research and found a suitable breeder; now she loves them like i do!
I dont live with my dad but he comes round quite a bit and he really likes them too. My boyfriend also loves them, and used to have a pair himself but unfortunately hes quite badly allergic and had to give them away but hes really supportive and loves when I talk to him about them. One of the girls I live with at uni is pretty ok about it too, she knew someone who had them and really liked them so she gets why I love them so much, the other girl can be a bit funny, first she was like 'errr' then she came to my house at home and actually quite likes them, though shes not much of a pet person anyway.
To be honest though, these are the exceptions, my ex boyfriend didnt like them much, he didnt like their tails or feet (wtff, idiot lol) and didnt really give them a chance, and my nan HATES them shes a real pain whenever I see her she goes on about how its unhealthy to have them in the house, how I should put them in the garden. Shes never even looked at them or given them a chance though.
I just look at it as ignorance though, people still assosiate them with the plague, which happened how long ago? and in fact dont take much note of the fact that it was the FLEAS who carried the  infection, and passed it to all sort of animals, not just rats. They also seems to assosiate them with rabies, which barely even exists anymore. Plus fancy rats wouldnt carry this anyway, AND fancy rats rarely ever bite. (well non of mine have).
Most people will say eww, there have been about 2 people I have known(outside of the people i talk about above) who say 'aww'. Its a shame because they will never know, I have had a hamster, and a rabbit, which i loved, but rats are just something else.

[PrincessRatty]

My mom loves them but cringes when they get near her, but only because of the tails.  She held one of my girls the other night and after about 5 minutes wouldn't give her back to me because I wanted to go to sleep...so I had to stay awake, yawning my butt off while my mom snuggled poor Bomby and took 20million pictures with her. 
Then another friend of mine, who has a bunch of rats as well, the ONLY issue she has is with my two hairless boys.  She says they feel like rainboots. Otherwise she loves them to death

[raisallie]

Most people I know are pretty cool with it. To them it just goes with all the other "weird girl" stuff i have going on, and they don't really question it.

So far I've only had two people with problems. One guy I knew wouldn't go near them, and the other just thought they were ugly (my poor Knubbler isn't ugly! aha).